Katrazi Tiatreza
''Islanders, glass-makers, seafarers, predators. '' Introduction A tall, tribal, seafaring race what hails from a coastal jungle on the first continent. Though originally from the depths of the lush land itself, current times see the katrazi settled not far off the coast on an ever-changing archipelago of tropical islands and lively volcanoes. History The Bastard Children of The Gods. "The Katrazi have no illusions regarding their origins, as their own creators walked, and walk still, among them." '' During the Era of Growth, Gli's shadow fell in passing upon a pool of lava in a newborn jungle still bubbling with growing pains. A piece of her shadow remained there, and made for itself a body of molten rock with which it might move around the tumultuous, primordial jungle. In the beginning, The Shadow spent its time only observing. Learning from the conflicts of Ancients around him, the colliding instincts of Has, Gli and Toz, the comparatively smaller battles of Primals. Approaching in its curiosity those and that left behind in the wake of such clashes, The Shadow made an individual of itself. One known only then as the visitor at the end of life. ''"The Shadow is merely death, awfully in love with life." '' Life, The Shadow learned, seemed the one thing shared in common among all the forces battling around it. The cycle from birth through rot was one all at once fascinating and terrifying. The Shadow did not know fear, but it knew to have an opinion. It knew yearning, and in a world full of makers it decided it, too, would create life. Except ''its life would linger. The Shadow's first attempt at creation, it took inspiration from the beasts it had observed in the jungle and sculpted its own creatures out of cooling lava. Though a self-forged being, The Shadow did not possess the breath of life to pass on, and its first children remained as statues - abandoned. For its second attempt The Shadow took from the jungle and the aftermath of Ancient struggles the pieces of Primal children, of broken flora. The Shadow was adamant to banish rot and death entirely, in its own creations, and having felt neither it sought to bind blood and flesh with strings of its own shadows. These creations lived but a day, moving in a mockery of living without breaths, without thoughts, until The Shadow struck them down. Frustrated with failure and caught between the urge to create and the repeated pattern of mimicking what already was, The Shadow sought out the Primal of pack hunters -- it had always favored the social predators. The First Pact. The Shadow made the first pact with the Pack Mother, and together they created the first katrazi. Though clever beasts, they were beasts all the same, ones that quickly climbed to the top of the food chain. Folding The Canvas. In its ambition to keep its own creations beyond the limits of living flesh, The Shadow reached with its significant powers the very canvas of the world itself, folding a piece of it into a pocket. A hidden plane in which the Shadow poured no small piece of its own essence, for katrazi spirits to return. It would prove to be a gift given at a high cost, weakening The Shadow's presence in the mortal realm, though a boon of which the katrazi enjoy the benefits to this day. The Death Of Gli. the water for what it was, The Shadow captured some of it. The Second Pact. As generations passed and the katrazi evolved beyond their fellow beasts, The Shadow sought to gift them all the powers they might need to fulfill its own ambitions. It reached out a second time, now to the ancients of the land. Among them, Fire 'and 'Eel 'answered. For the eternal reverence, tributes - and no small portion of Gli's pocketed waters - the ancients agreed and the second pact was made. * The katrazi discover the art of boat-building. ''"It is said that the first canoe was carved, the first raft tied together, both hundreds of years before the first katrazi hut was made." '' The Third Pact. In the last few thousand years leading up to the arrival of light, the Nadeo Hasgli made themselves a presence all across the bubble. Seeing the threat growing with them, challenging the katrazi's claim to the title of top predators, The Shadow turned once more to the titans of the land itself, seeking patrons to add their blessings to its children. Some lesser Primals of the very land itself stepped up to the call, in a unity that strengthened both the katrazi, and the distrust between them and the Nadeo Hasgli. ''"It is known, by the true children of the gods, as The Great Deception. The very land itself, desecrated and blinded, its claws and its teeth turned by lies and by malice to the side of the bastard blood." It would be the final pact made by The Shadow, before its banishment. The Veil Lifts. "The light was sudden and brutal, scorching The Shadow and petrifying its magma-made form, banishing its essence to its self-made realm of spirits." '' The loss of The Shadow's tangible presence did little to affect the katrazi's day-to-day living. Predators And Prey. Theudgard. Hunting the World. Conqueror And The Temple City. A Thousand Broken Pacts. The Exodus To The Isles. Culture 'Traits of the Culture The Pantheon Unlike many other religions come into existence on Heera, the katrazi's pantheon of patrons is one very much real. The Shadow Though banished by sunlight, The Shadow remains a powerful force in the katrazi pantheon. Though few pact themselves with the Shadow itself or its realm, it is the source of their inherent pact magic, the keeper and the very essence of every katrazi's afterlife. The Pack Mother A powerful Primal, she offered up the flesh to hold the Shadow's magic and ambition. Katrazi who pact with her devote their lives to the hunt, and to the protection of the tribe. The Elementals The Storm Eel It travels the sea all along the continent, conducting a never-ending cycle of monsoons as it coils lightning through the skies, or churns out violent currents beneath the ocean waves. Champions of Eel, aptly named Stormcallers, gain access to powerful elemental forces. The rivers of the jungle, all of which feed into the ocean and many of which seem to disappear and reappear in a new place seemingly at random, are all said to be children of Eel. Fire. Based deep within the waters off the jungle coast and feeding the many active volcanoes ever reshaping the archipelagos, the volcanic ancient is a massive being whose magma roots are said to stretch well into the earth below the mainland jungle. Tribe Elders will claim - and no katrazi would doubt - that it was in one of this ancient's pools The Shadow made itself into being. Champions of fire hold creation and destruction in their hands, though theirs are, at the core, roles of diplomacy, ensuring the rivers of fire flow in the favour of the tribe. The Lesser Primals * Crocodile * Barracuda * Turtle * Bat * Wolf * Frog The Ancestrals Though any katrazi passed on into Shadow enjoys the reverence of their descendants, a few rise up above the rest to earn true patron status. * Lanu'ukee The Drummer * Rah'zahai, The Lucky Lady * The Glassmaker * The First Oarsman * The Hunter * The Brewer * The Mender * The Scribe Society The Strongest Rule. ' Still very much in touch with their roots as top-of-the-chain predators, the katrazi firmly believe in earning ones place, and have little room for weakness. A mindset often branded as barbaric, though it's often overlooked they see strength measured in a variety of ways. Within the tribe itself there is no one mortal ruler, no taxes, and certainly no noble classes - least as perceived by those considering themselves more civilized. Authority is earned, usually by age and achievements, decisions are made and judgement is passed by elders and family chiefs. '''The Rule of Three. ' The number three holds a special place in katrazi society. The Shadow made three pacts in its creation of the katrazi, and three is a number recurring in the katrazi's own pact magic. * The katrazi believe their soul to hold three parts. * Katrazi hold three concepts of family. The bond of blood, the bond of the tribe, and the bond of the pack. * Katrazi are named three times in their lifetime. Technology and Magic It's unclear, if the katrazi lack any innate magical abilities beyond the birthright of pact-making, or if it's simply a case of no katrazi ever having made an attempt. Their powers come from their patrons, and to choose one out of the Pantheon to serve is any and every katrazi's first claim to adulthood. '''Peerless Shipwrights Glass-smiths Language Theirs is a tongue of harsh consonants and growling notes, chatters and barks what all stem from the single need of a pack needing to communicate and co-ordinate on the hunt. A katrazi's howl is to the predator a note of belonging. To the prey, it's one of the worst kind of luck. Food Meat is not only the staple in a katrazi's diet, it's the side and the dessert. Naming True to the reverence of the number three, katrazi hold three separate names over the course of a lifetime. One is given at birth to protect an unfinished spirit. One they carry through adulthood, and the last they wear through death and into the realm of The Shadow. Appearance In appearance, the katrazi greatly resemble the Pack Mother herself, carrying the blended features of many predators. Built for marathon running and tree climbing, they sport lanky, fur-coated frames and deft hands armed with a wolf's blunted claws. Beastly facial features walk a humanoid line between canine and leonine, broad noses and heavy brows framed by a thick, literal mane that extends into a ridge down their spine and culminates into a monkey's agile tail. A set of expressive hyena's ears occasionally see fit to poke out of their impressive head of fur, and a piranha's jagged, pearly whites occasionally bare themselves in grins or sneers. Eyes made to function in a world once shrouded in darkness glint out from predatory faces, sporting secondary limbal rings within the irises. In colouration, variance only seems a product of breeding, rather than location. Their coats vary greatly from earthly tones of brown and maroon, warm copper and molten bronze, to colder hues of black, grey and deep blue or purple. On the warmer colours, patterns of camouflage can often be found in terms of speckles or stripes. However on the colder spectrum, camouflage appears limited to a more simple variant of countershading. Relations Trivia